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The Best Books of 2018 So Far

Now that we’ve officially reached the midpoint of 2018, it’s time to celebrate the best books we’ve read so far — i.e., our favorite fiction, nonfiction, and poetry published between January 1 and June 30 this year. To put things into perspective, more than 150,000 books were published in the United States over the past six months, and we’ve narrowed it down to the top 0.02%.

The second BreakBeat Poets anthology — which celebrates black women within the tradition, balancing Chicago talent alongside Morgan Parker, Angel Nafis, and Safia Elhillo — will be read in classrooms for decades to come.

Fiction

“Probably the best fantasy novel I’ve ever read that wasn’t marketed as a fantasy. Absolutely brilliant. Rarely has a novel inspired me to do so much auxiliary reading of primary sources.” —Adam Morgan

“Truly original, [these] stories both delight and haunt; they are unforgettable . . . Aickman pulls back the curtain just long enough to give us a glimpse into that lively and shimmering dark.” —Sarah Huener

“The stories in this collection follow men and boys who have been pressurized by violence, whose hopes sometimes betray them, especially in a world shaped by race, gender, and class. Luminous, exceptional, necessary.” —Sara Cutaia

“Powerful and brutal, the twelve characters in this novel struggle to identify how or why they’re Natives, and what that means to them. The intensity never lets up. If you only have time to read one novel this year, I’d vouch for this one.” —Sara Cutaia

With this book, Austen joins Natalie Y. Moore, Eve Ewing, and Alex Kotlowitz as one of Chicago’s great chroniclers of the devastating effects of bad public policy. This book — like The South Side, Ghosts in the Schoolyard, and There Are No Children Here — should be required reading.

“This book gives you a look at the border with both emotional depth and empathy, and also deliberate facts and history to give context to the complexity of the issue we’ve had at our border for decades.” —Sara Cutaia